We are delighted to announce the newest members of our flagship Emerging Writers Programme, now in its fourth iteration, which supports writers at the very start of their careers.
Forty participants were selected from a field of almost 950 applicants by a panel of judges comprising YA novelist and essayist Yassmin Abdel-Magied (Chair), non-fiction writer Simon Garfield, playwright and novelist Nell Leyshon, poet Rachel Long, screen and children's writer John McNally and literary agent Eli Keren.
This year’s cohort is working on a diverse array of projects. Spanning the globe from the US to India, the Philippines to Israel, France to Trinidad, they explore the Troubles and the Arab Spring, twelfth-century York, nineteenth-century Northumberland and present-day London; they delve into topics as diverse as neurology, art, cryogenics, the countryside, sexuality and storytelling; and feature selkies, bats, whales and a platypus.
Of the forty writers, eleven are novelists, eight are writing for stage/screen, seven are working on non-fiction or graphic non-fiction, five are short story writers, five are writing for children or YA and four are poets. The writers span an age range of early twenties to early fifties.
The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme is geared towards supporting writers who have not yet published a full-length work of fiction, non-fiction, collection of poems, or had a full-length work professionally produced for stage/screen. The 2022/23 Programme will run from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.
Participants benefit from one year’s free membership of The London Library alongside a programme of writing development and networking opportunities, peer support, and guidance. Membership to The London Library includes: access to its collection of around one million books and periodicals (almost all of which can be borrowed), a vast eLibrary, atmospheric workspaces in a beautiful building, a members suite, free nationwide postal loans, and discounted tickets to the Library’s popular public events programme. The cohort will be following in the footsteps of the many writers, readers and thinkers who have made the Library their home for over 180 years.
Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Chair, and London Library Trustee said: ‘It has been an absolute pleasure to chair the judging panel of this year’s Emerging Writers Programme. As a panel, we were bowled over by the sheer volume and outstanding quality of submissions we received, not to mention the diversity of discipline/genre and the scope of the storytelling. Whittling down to forty was not easy but we are so excited by the talent of those we chose to be on the programme and we can't wait to see where they take their wonderful array of projects over the course of the year.’
Philip Marshall, Director of The London Library said: ‘I am delighted that we are able to welcome forty new writers into membership through the Emerging Writers Programme. Not only does the Programme support writers at the start of their career through workshops and networking opportunities, it enables participants to use the Library’s extensive resources – resources that have fuelled and provided a home for creativity and inspiration for over 180 years.’
